


The light that guides

by acrosspontneuf (FangedAngel)



Series: Liberation [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Holding Hands, Public Display of Affection, Saarebas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24126886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangedAngel/pseuds/acrosspontneuf
Summary: The light under her skin makes her feel weightless, like she’s wrapped in a cloak that keeps everything else at bay. When he looks at her from across the training grounds and winks, she laughs in that loud way that she used to feel ashamed about and doesn’t regret it for a moment. Let them watch.
Relationships: Female Adaar/Iron Bull
Series: Liberation [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1740895
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	The light that guides

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sternenstaub](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sternenstaub/gifts).



> Set directly after The Breaking of Chains, this is Saarea and Bull's first kiss.  
> Saarea belongs to the amazing [Stern](https://sternenstaub28.tumblr.com/tagged/saarea-adaar).  
> Some liberties with canon have been taken and trauma is heavily implied.

It’s been days since that moment in the tavern, her forehead pressed to Bull’s, his hand on her face. Saarea feels like everything has changed, like his touch reshaped the entire world, like it conjured light under her skin.

Everything has changed, and yet everything also continues as normal, or whatever counts as normal within the Inquisition. Saarea carries out her duties as expected. She’s almost become used to them. They feel less and less like chains binding her to something that is not of her making. She is a leader, whether or not she believes she should be. She commands respect. They all whisper about her but they follow what she says. And now there is light under her skin, glowing warm. 

It’s not been that long since the mere sight of him used to bring back all the horrors of her past, the shadows of chains reaching out to her, deafening. Now she looks at him and can’t help grinning. She touched him, and he looked at her like she was worth touching back. She touched him and he touched her in return, his palm warm against her skin, the expression on his face soft and open and for her.

Saarea watches him when he trains and Bull shows off even more than usual for her, and she laughs, and everyone around them must know but she doesn’t care. The whispers go on regardless of what she does. She might as well enjoy giving them something to talk about for once.

The light under her skin makes her feel weightless, like she’s wrapped in a cloak that keeps everything else at bay. When he looks at her from across the training grounds and winks, she laughs in that loud way that she used to feel ashamed about and doesn’t regret it for a moment. Let them watch.

When Saarea walks over to Bull, he watches her approach like she’s the best sight he’s seen. It makes her feel odd, giddy and somewhat weak in the knees. It makes her feel like she’s floating, the sort of feeling she used to hear in passing and roll her eyes at because it sounded so much like fantasy. 

Their banter comes as easy as it has for a while now, fast and witty and making Krem roll his eyes and seek refuge away from them. There is something else underneath the words now, this acknowledgment of what has passed between them, of the shared touch that spoke louder than any statement.

Bull looks at her like he sees the light under her skin, like he shares it, like he knows that she wants nothing more than to reach out and touch him again. She wants to seek out the warmth of him and hold on to it. She allows herself to imagine her hand on his shoulder, her hand in his. She’s greedy in a way she’s never thought she had a right to be, and she can’t even contemplate stopping.

When he looks at her mouth, she doesn’t even remember to flinch because she’s too distracted by looking at his. She walks closer to him, so close, and for once no one other than Bull is watching her. It helps that they’re partially hidden by the one training dummy that hasn’t been dismantled by Cassandra.

Saarea knows from Bull’s posture that he’s waiting for her to touch him first, so she does, her hand finding its way to his forearm, fingers sliding around his wrist. His move follows hers as he twists his hand to tangle it with hers, their fingers twined. She reaches out for his other hand too and just like that they’re holding hands, the leader of the Chargers and the Inquisitor, in Skyhold’s courtyard.

Saarea has always disliked her hands, thinking them too big, too much, too hers. They look right when tangled with his, and she doesn’t know what to do with this feeling so she just holds on to him. She barely even feels the impulse to withdraw, to hide, to flee. She allows herself to feel this, breathing it in, letting it sweep over her, heart racing and sunlight shining around them, echoing the light she feels.

Saarea presses her forehead to his again, like she’s been wanting to do since moving away from him the last time, and he smiles at her, says something funny that she barely hears.  
She knows that she’s going to kiss him, so she does. She doesn’t allow herself to think about it, to worry about her scars or her face so close to his, so exposed. She just kisses him, pressing her lips to the corner of his mouth, then lingering on his bottom lip, then waiting for him to breathe, to move. The strength in his hands equals hers as he kisses her back, holding on to her like she’s his tether in the same way he is hers. It feels natural and right in a way that so few things have ever felt.

There is greed to the kiss, but there is mostly softness, there is mostly languor, and everything inside Saarea is light and quiet. There is no rattling, there are no shadows.   
Miraculously, no one walks by, but in this moment she wouldn’t care to be seen. In this moment, she feels the right to be, the right to feel.

She kisses him and he follows, every step, every breath, every touch, until they both rest against each other, foreheads pressed together, matching smiles and matching heartbeats. The sunlight starts to descend behind the mountains, but the light under Saarea’s skin remains. She doesn’t let go of his hands until much later, when their corner of the courtyard starts filling with those seeking a night of entertainment in the tavern. 

As she moves away, she turns back to look at him, pressing her fingers to her lips in farewell.


End file.
